


fearless

by roseq



Series: all you wanted was to be wanted [2]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Fluff, High School AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-28 06:57:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6319180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseq/pseuds/roseq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the first kiss. It's flawless. Really something.<br/>It's fearless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. biggest stupid crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler finally tells Josh he has a crush on him.

Tyler and Josh had a routine going. When the sun went down and the fears came out, Tyler called Josh. Tyler didn’t really understand why, but things were always harder at night. Usually Tyler ended up falling asleep talking to Josh, but this night Josh was having a hard time staying up. 

“Hey, Josh. You still up?” Tyler asked. He heard a sleepy slur of words in response. “I need to talk to you,” Tyler said, pretty anxious. 

Josh heard the stress in Tyler’s voice and woke himself up. “What’s wrong, Tyler?” he asked. 

“Umm, okay. So… Josh. You’re really special and important to me,” Tyler managed to get out.

Josh sighed a little bit worried there was something urgently wrong. “Yeah, bro you’re really important to me too,” he responded smiling a small silly smile. 

“I don’t think you get it. I’ve had the biggest stupid crush on you for the longest time,” Tyler clarified. 

There was silence for a moment. Tyler was starting to panic. 

“Wanna go out on Saturday?” Josh asked, with fear in chest and a nervous smile across his face. 

Tyler was left speechless for a second. Now Josh was starting to panic. 

“Yes!” Tyler responded. “I’d love to.” 

“Awesome, I’ll pick you up at 7,” Josh said pretty quickly. 

Tyler was a giant ball of happy nervous energy. He didn’t know what to say, he just wanted to sing love songs and laugh. He wanted to know how this worked out for him, but was too ecstatic to question it. 

“Um goodnight, Josh!” Tyler giggled. 

“Goodnight, Tyler,” Josh snickered back. 

Tyler laid in bed on his back with his phone on his chest. He couldn’t stop smiling and his face was starting to hurt. He didn’t care. He had no idea how he was going to sleep. How could he? His beautiful best friend just asked him out. 

Josh sat in bed trying to process what just happened. He had adored Tyler ever since he met him. He began to ask himself if this was some sort of practical joke or something, but he knew Tyler would never do anything so cruel. He began to wonder what Tyler even saw in him. He knew this wouldn’t help anything. He put on his headphones and tried to go to sleep but ended up tossing and turning through most of the night. 

 

The next day, Tyler and Josh went to school. It was Friday. Tyler had a hard time scrubbing the smile from his face. He practically floated into the school. Josh wasn’t having the same experience. The bags under his eyes were dark, and he took his time getting to class. He had let his fears and doubts about dating his best friend get to him. 

The boys didn’t have any classes together, but they usually ate together at lunch with their other friends unless one of them had something else to do. Tyler couldn’t wait to see Josh, and Josh was terrified of seeing Tyler. 

He just kept asking himself, “What do I even say? Or what if that was a joke?” He really thought he must have something wrong. 

Lunch rolled around and Tyler immediately went to the lunch table they always ate at. A few minutes into lunch Tyler asked Mark, “Hey, have you seen Josh today?”.

Mark replied, “Yeah, he was in English with me this morning. He seemed really tired and distracted though.” 

Josh took his time getting to lunch. He was so scared and didn’t know what was going to happen. Ten minutes later he plopped down at the table next to Mark and across from Tyler. Tyler stopped in the middle of his conversation with Mark to talk to Josh.

“Are you okay?” Tyler asked. 

“Um yeah of course,” Josh answered quickly, just now realizing he probably looked as shit as he felt. “What are you guys up to?”

Mark quickly asked, “In the Order of the Pheonix how did all of them fly to the Ministry of Magic when only Luna and Harry could see the thestrals?” He was trying to form a consensus on the topic, after previously talking about it.

Josh did not have energy for this. Mark and some of the other boys at the table started arguing about Harry Potter and then comics or something. Josh wasn’t paying attention. He just stared into space waiting for the lunch period to end. Tyler noticed Josh wasn’t doing well but wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. When the bell rang, everyone rushed to leave and get to class. Tyler walked with Josh, so they could talk. 

“Hey, so where are we going on our date tomorrow?” Tyler asked with a smile on his face. 

Josh just stared at Tyler for a second. He had been so full of self-doubt and paranoia that he forgot to start thinking about the actual date. “It’s a surprise, but wear something nice,” he said nervously smiling and shooting Tyler some finger guns. 

Tyler understood this meant Josh had no idea what he was doing. “Sounds great!” Tyler said trying not to put anymore pressure on Josh. Tyler could tell Josh wasn’t really in the mood to talk. Tyler grabbed Josh’s hand, and Josh gently held his hand. They walked to class quiet but comfortable. 

 

After school Josh makes his way home and walks in all huffy and stressed out. He directly went up to his room and turned on some loud music. He laid on the bed whispering swears to himself and trying to form a plan for the date. 

Josh’s mom walked in and Josh didn’t notice until she was standing a few feet away from him. When he noticed she was there, he jumped and quickly turned the music down. “Mom, you scared me,” he said quickly.

“I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to scare you. You just seemed to be having a hard time. What’s going on?” she asked, fairly concerned. 

“So, I have a date,” Josh said quietly and wincing a little. 

“Look at my little boy all grown up!” his mom replied. She was so happy for him. “Where are you going? What’s the plan?” she asked.

“Well, that’s the problem. I don’t know where we’re going to go, but when he asked I told him to dress nicely. I can’t afford anywhere nice. I don’t even know of any nice places. Mom, what do I do?” Josh panicked. 

“Did you finally ask Tyler out?” his mom smirked. 

“Oh my gosh, mom!” 

“Is it Tyler though?” she persisted. 

“Yes, it’s Tyler,” he admitted. 

“Well first off,” she said so ready to voice her opinion. “Tyler is a sweet boy and will like anything you decide to do. Second of all, he’s a catch! I’ll give you some money for your date if you need it and lastly I think I know the perfect place for you two.” 

It was clear to Josh that his mother was almost as excited about this date as Josh was once he got past his nerves. 

 

When Tyler got home after school he started playing his happy playlist and Don’t Bring Me Down by Electric Lights Orchestra came on first. He danced around his room by himself laughing. He was worried about Josh a little but was sure he could handle whatever was stressing him out, at least until their daily call. Part of Tyler knew that this high of good feelings couldn’t last too long, but he ignored it the best he could. 

Night rolled around, and Tyler started feeling pretty down. He was just about to call Josh, but then Tyler started to second guess himself. What if the reason Josh was so stressed out is because he doesn’t really like me back? What I’ve made a big mistake and lost a friend? He laid in bed drowning in his thoughts. 

A little less than two hours after it got dark, Josh started to worry. Tyler hadn’t called like usual, and Josh was worried too much had started to change. He texted Tyler. 

Josh: are you okay

Tyler saw the text and wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t okay, but he wasn’t sure Josh was okay with him. 

Tyler: ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Josh saw his text and decided to call Tyler, which didn’t happen very often. The phone rang a few times. Tyler was surprised that Josh called, and it took him a second to collect himself. 

“Hey,” Tyler answered quietly.

“What’s going on?” Josh asked. 

“I don’t know, man. Everything feels off and different.” Tyler responded, grabbing on this head of hair. 

Josh sighed. “I know what you mean. I’m so worried I’ll disappoint you or let you down in some way,” he admitted. 

“Joshua, as long and we’re friends you could never disappoint me!” Tyler replied, a little upset that Josh felt like this. 

“Same goes to you, Tyler. I care about you so much, and I just want you to be happy,” Josh said, smiling and feeling relieved. 

The boys talked for the rest of the night. It was like any other night but with more flirting. By the end of the night, both of the boys’ faces were sore from smiling and laughing so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you thought about it! More will be coming soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys go on their first date.

The next day Tyler and Josh prepared for their date. Josh was supposed to pick up Tyler at 7 and both of the boys were oh-so aware of this. They started getting ready around 5:30. 

Before getting in the shower, Josh set out his outfit: a tight white short-sleeve button up shirt, a pair of black skinny jeans, Josh’s lucky undies, a pair of black socks, and a dorky colorful bow tie with a print. His black and white Converse sat on the floor right beside the bed. 

Josh took a shower and shaved. Once he got out of the shower, he tied a towel around his waist and proceeded to try to do his hair up just the way he liked it. He would play with it a little, add some product and stare at it some more, wash it out, and repeat. This happened a few times as he was set on getting it to look just right. 

Before the date, Tyler look a bubble bath and listened to 1989. His whole family could hear him singing, “You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye!” and the rest of the song from across the house over the sounds of the rain. The rain comforted Tyler. He got out of the bath, dried himself off, and shaved. 

Getting dressed wasn’t too tricky, because Tyler only really had one nice set of clothes. He pulled out his old pair of khakis and a blue button-up shirt, the ones he usually wore to church. He paired them with some colorful socks and a pair of black and white Vans.

Both of the boys were ready about 15 minutes early. Josh kept trying to plan out how to be on Tyler’s doorstep at exactly seven o’clock. He left too early, overestimating how long it would take to get through the few lights between them. He got there 10 minutes early and just sat in the car for five minutes hoping no one would notice. 

Tyler saw the moment Josh’s car pulled up in front of his house. He was pretty confused when Josh didn’t walk to the door or text him or anything, letting him know he was here. A little voice in his head told him this date was forced. He managed to ignore it. It had stopped raining and was misting at this point. Tyler thought about how in the mist the pavement shone like silver against the street lights. 

Josh walked to Tyler’s door, adjusted his bow tie, and rang the doorbell. Tyler quickly ran up to the door, checked himself in the mirror, and opened the door. Josh smiled a big angelic smile in awe of what was happening. Tyler smiled back anxiously. Josh looked so good. So good. His parents quickly came up behind him. 

“I trust you’ll have him back before 11,” Tyler’s mom said patting Tyler on the shoulder and laughing a little. 

Tyler’s dad was silent and tried to smile but didn’t manage to pull it off well. “Have fun boys,” he grumbled. “But not too much fun,” he added. 

Tyler was ready to go. “Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad. I’ll see you later. I love you,” he barked out quickly, grabbing his house keys and cellphone and leaving. 

“Bye, Mr. Joseph. Bye, Mrs. Joseph!” Josh said waving and being led away by Tyler. 

 

Josh quickly caught up to Tyler, ran to the car, and opened the passenger’s side door for him. “Your carriage awaits,” he said, smiling stupidly.

Tyler laughed at him and got in the car. Josh ran around to the other side and got in the car. Tyler was so excited; he just wanted to dance. 

Josh jumped into the driver’s seat, and Tyler was just overwhelmed by how beautiful and kind and caring his best friend and possible boyfriend was. Josh noticed Tyler was staring and blushed a little bit and started the car. 

“Your hair looks really nice,” Tyler told Josh. 

Josh blushed harder and ran his hand through his hair, immediately regretting it, since he had spent so much time getting it just right. “Thanks, I’ve been thinking about dyeing it for a while now,” Josh admitted.

“I think it looks great now, but I’m sure you’ll look good no matter what color it is,” Tyler said with a heart-eyes expression. He figured he ought to turn in down a notch, because Josh was bright red and looked like he could burst into flames at any moment. 

“Anyway, where are we going?” Tyler asked. 

“We’re going to Sofia’s,” Josh replied. 

“What? You can’t afford that, Josh!” Tyler said pretty shocked. 

“Anything for you, babe,” Josh told him with an enormous grin. Calling Tyler babe was kind of weird to Josh and you could see it in their face as both of them questioned that word choice. 

 

The conversation moved on and soon they were at Sofia’s. Josh walked up to the hostess and said, “I have a reservation under Josh Dun for two”. They were quickly seated in a corner, secluded from the rest of the restaurant. 

The table was covered in white paper was set with the usual table setting, but it did have a small cup with a few crayons in it. Josh immediately grabbed a few crayons and started drawing. Tyler considered telling Josh that those were probably left there from when customers, presumed to have children, were here before them, but he didn’t want to make Josh feel silly. He joined him, grabbing some crayons and starting drawing with Josh. 

The waitress came by. “Hello my name is Samantha, and I’ll be taking care of you tonight. What can I get you started with?” 

Tyler looked at Josh, not knowing what to order. Josh looked up at the waitress and said, “Two Shirley Temples please,” She looked a bit surprised and then scribbled something down in her notepad. “Oh, also could you bring some waters?” he asked. 

“Sure! I’ll be right out with those for you guys.” she replied. 

“Thanks” he said quickly. He looked at Tyler.

“Why did you order those?” Tyler asked. 

“They’re really good. Have you had one before? I’m sure you’ll like it and if you don’t I’ll just drink them and you can have the water,” It was obvious Josh had thought this through. 

“Alright,” Tyler replied a little unsure. 

They kept drawing on the table. “What you drawing there?” Josh asked Tyler. 

Tyler put his arm around it covering it, so Josh couldn’t see. “I’m not done yet,” he said concentrating pretty hard and sticking his tongue out a little. Josh didn’t mind Tyler was focused on that. He was so cute when he was concentrating and working on something. 

Samantha came back with the drinks and some bread with butter. “Here you go boys. Are you two ready to order or do you need a sec?” 

Josh looked at Tyler who was still super into whatever he was drawing. “I think we need another second.”

She laughed a little. “Alrighty. I’ll be back in a little bit. No rush.”

Josh started shoving bread in his mouth as soon as she left. With Tyler quiet, he was starting to get a little nervous. It was sinking in that he was on a date with Tyler, his best friend, his bro, his silly hot jock, his beautiful musician. 

“Okay, it’s ready,” Tyler said lifting his arm and revealing some doodles. One doodle was a jumbled mess that looked that Tyler has scribbled something out and the other was a blue ghost with a little speech bubble. The speech bubble read “Hi, my name is Tyler and I like Josh.” 

Tyler started to explain almost immediately. “Okay so I tried to draw a little skeleton at first,” he said pointing to the jumbled mess. “But then I realized skeletons have a lot of bones and drawing skeletons is hard, so I decided to draw this ghost. Ghosts and skeletons are like cousins or something right? Like a ghost is the soul and a skeleton is the bones? I don’t know. Anyway, what do you think?” Tyler rambled. 

Josh wasn’t quite sure how to respond. How was Tyler this fucking cute? He smiled at Tyler. “I love it. In fact, it gives me an idea.” Josh hadn’t drawn much on the table yet except for the Superman S that all elementary schoolers know how to draw and a cat face. He grabbed a green and black crayon. 

“Ooh, fancy. Two colors,” Tyler said. He had only used a blue crayon for his masterpiece. 

“Mhm!” Josh nodded while drawing. He covered this drawing with his arm the way Tyler did before. 

Tyler watched Josh draw for a bit, but then decided he needed to figure out what to order. Once he had figured out what to order, Josh was done. 

He drew a green alien with a black mohawk and there was a speech bubble next to it. It said “Hello, my name is Josh and I like Tyler.” 

 

Before Tyler could respond, Samantha popped back up. “Do we have an idea of what we want?” Tyler started giggling as soon as she showed up. He was so happy. 

“I think so,” Josh said with a huge smile. “I’d like the chicken piccata, please.” 

“And for you?” she asked Tyler. 

“Spaghetti and meatballs, please,” he giggled. 

“Awesome, so we have one chicken piccata and one spaghetti and meatballs,” she confirmed. The boys nodded and she was on her way. 

Tyler smiled and took a sip of the sugary Shirley Temple. His eyes went wide and after a second he exclaimed, “This is so good!” 

“I knew you’d like it,” Josh replied with a blindingly gorgeous smile.  
Tyler looked at the cherries in the drink and said with a mischievous smile, “You know they say that if you can tie a cherry stem in a knot with your mouth, you must be a good kisser.” 

“Is that a challenge?” Josh replied with a smirk. Tyler laughed. 

Josh lowered the cherry by the stem to his mouth and plucked the cherry from the stem using his teeth. He ate the cherry and smiled a silly smile, bunching up his face and squinting a little. 

Tyler stared blushing a little. Josh then put the cherry stem in his mouth and moved it around a little bit. After a second, his eyes went wide and he started coughing loudly. 

He was choking on the cherry stem, and Tyler didn’t know what to do. People in the restaurant started looking at them after a couple of loud coughs. You could practically see the exclamation and question marks bouncing over Tyler’s head. Josh was watching Tyler freak out, while Tyler was watching Josh choke on a cherry stem on their first date. 

Josh stopped coughing and spit out a cherry stem tied in a knot. His eyes were watering a little from choking, but he caught his breath and said, “Ta da!” with jazz hands. 

A woman who looked like she was in her mid-40s walked up to the table. “Are you boys okay?” she asked looking very concerned. 

Josh took a sip of water and responded, “We’re doing fine. Thanks for checking in on us.” He looked at Tyler who seemed pretty uncomfortable after that whole ordeal. “Tyler, this is Sofia. Sofia, this is Tyler, my date.” 

Sofia extended her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Tyler. It’s so nice seeing my little Joshy on a date. I’m so proud of him. It feels like just yesterday he was running around my house naked chasing my cat.” 

Tyler shook her hand softly. “Are you sure it wasn’t yesterday?” Tyler teased quietly. They both laughed and Josh turned a little red. After they finished laughing Tyler asked, “So your name is Sofia? Like the name on the building?”

“Oh, yes! I’m the owner,” she said proudly. 

“Well it was lovely meeting you, Sofia. I’ll keep my eye on Joshy for you,” he said smiling at Josh. 

“Same goes to you. Let me know if you two need anything,” she responded. 

“Thanks, Sofia,” Josh managed to get out. 

They looked up at each other and laughed. Josh looked at Tyler’s ghost drawing. “Do you mind if I put a picture of this on instagram?”

“No, I don’t mind. Can I put a pic of yours on my insta?” he responded. 

“Of course!” 

They reached over to take a picture at the same time and bumped heads. “Oh my god, you okay, man?” Tyler asked. 

“Haha, yeah,” Josh laughed. 

They both got their pictures, captioned them with ghost, heart, and alien emojis, and posted them. 

 

Their food came out pretty quickly after that. Tyler was pretty hungry, because Josh had eaten most of the bread earlier, and dug in quickly. 

Josh ate slower than him, appreciating the moment. Josh glanced up at Tyler and he had some spaghetti hanging from his mouth. Josh giggled a little. 

“Are you thinking about that scene from The Lady and the Tramp?” Tyler asked.

“Yeah,” Josh admitted. 

“Me too,” Tyler said blushing and putting on end of a spaghetti noodle in his mouth and the other in Josh’s. 

They inched closer and closer giggling and turning redder and redder. As they got closer, Josh stared into Tyler’s eyes. As their lips were about to meet, Tyler pulled away, shaking a little. 

“Sorry,” he said quietly. 

“It’s okay,” Josh reassured him with a small soft smile he was trying to contain. It felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. 

“I really want to. I just-” 

“Tyler, it is okay. I don’t want to rush or force anything. Okay?” he reassured Tyler, grabbing his hand on the table and rubbing his thumb against it. 

The boys ate, ordered a few more Shirley Temples, and had a nice time. When the waitress came by with the bill, there was a note on it. “This one's on me, Joshy. He’s a keeper. Love, Sofia” 

There wasn’t a total listed or anything, so Josh didn’t know what to tip. He left ten dollars for the tip just to be safe, and the boys left. 

 

The got into Josh’s car and Tyler asked, “Where are we off to now?”

“I was thinking dessert,” Josh said. 

“I don’t know how I’m going to be able to eat anymore, but let’s go!” Tyler was excited to do anything with Josh by his side. 

“Awesome, I’m thinking I Scream,” I Scream was a local ice cream shop in Columbus that had a cute monster theme. 

“Aaaaah I Scream!” Tyler laughed. 

Josh turned on the radio and sang along as he drove. It began raining again. Tyler felt so warm, happy, and safe next to Josh. He wished this moment could last forever. 

They pulled up into the parking lot for I Scream and all the lights were out in the building except for the glowing ‘closed’ sign. 

“They closed 20 minutes ago. I’m sorry,” Josh apologized. 

“No worries,” Tyler was caught up in the sounds of the rain and Josh’s presence and whole experience. 

“What do you wanna do now?” Josh asked. 

“I have an idea,” Tyler got out of the car, closed his door, and opened Josh’s door. He held out his hand and asked, “May I have this dance?” 

Josh was shocked, but he gave Tyler his hand and got out of the car. Tyler pulled him close and rested his head on Josh’s shoulder. They swayed getting rained on, in the parking lot, lit by street lamps. Tyler thought it was beautiful. The glow of the lights and the warmth between him and Josh. He wondered if this is what love truly felt like. 

Josh was loving holding Tyler close to him. It felt like the rain was melting them into one being made of love. A strong being. He ran his fingers through Tyler’s soggy hair and tried to take in the moment. 

The boys dozed off in each other's arms. When Josh looked up, he could see on the dashboard clock in the car that it was 10:30 and getting Tyler home late would not be a good idea. He pulled back a little from Tyler, and Tyler was very confused by this.

“Sorry, but it’s 10:40 and I figured I should get you home sooner rather than later,” Josh explained to Tyler. 

“You’re right,” he agreed. 

Josh walked Tyler to the passenger’s side. Josh ran to the back and got something out of the trunk. When he got in the car, he tossed Tyler an old band t-shirt. “I figured you might want to change into something dry.”

“Thanks, but do you have anything for you to change into?” 

“Nah, but your mom is going to be concerned if you come home completely soaking wet,”

“True,” Tyler unbuttoned his church shirt and put on Josh’s t-shirt. It was a little too big, but Tyler liked it because it was really soft and smelled like Josh. He put his eyes on Josh and was just so content with the moment. 

The ride home was full of laughs and smiles. The two happy boys were sad to part. Once they got to Tyler’s house, they walked up to Tyler’s front porch holding hands. 

“I had a great time tonight,” Tyler said anxiously. He knew what being walked to the door usually meant. He messed up the kiss earlier and didn’t want to mess it up this time. 

“Me too. But do you know what would make it even better?” 

“Wha-” Josh put his hand on the side of Tyler’s face guiding them close together. 

“Are you okay with this?” Josh asked before their mouths made contact. 

Tyler leaned into the kiss, and he could feel Josh trying to keep from smiling too much, breaking the kiss. They pulled away from each other smiling. 

“I love this,” Tyler replied to Josh. 

He stared a little bit and then Josh reminded him, “It’s almost 11.” 

Tyler sighed and dug his keys out of his pocket. “You’re right. Goodnight.” He hugged Josh and leaned his head against his shoulder like when they were dancing. 

“Goodnight. I’ll talk to you later,” Josh said pretending to be more okay than he was. How do you say goodbye to the perfect night? 

Tyler ran up to bed with his shirt in one hand and his keys in the other. He plopped onto his bed rethinking the night and smiling wildly. 

Josh sat in his car with his head on the steering wheel. This was real. That just happened. He felt like his body was buzzing with joy. 

When they checked their phones, they could see many people had liked their instagram pictures and commented on them. Mark had said “u 2 finally went on a date? about time :)” All of the comments resembled this message in one way or another. 

The two happy boys sat there thinking that they had just had their first kiss. It was flawless. They felt fearless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you liked it! I'm thinking about writing some werewolf joshler...

**Author's Note:**

> i'm sorry i am small and gay. 
> 
> my joshler/top blog is happyjoshua.tumblr.com


End file.
